Long Beach Township Mayor Joseph Mancini said Hackensack Meridian Southern Ocean Medical Center’s surgical unit expansion project is crucial as it will allow for patients to not have to drive an hour or more for critical treatments. “This has been long overdue,” said Mancini, who is also the fundraising chair for the project. “The operating rooms are 52 years old. All of our guests always tell us that if they needed an operation they would go back to Hackensack or go to Philadelphia or New York to get it done.